SECA leaders to start new school

Monday

Apr 23, 2012 at 12:01 AM

STOCKTON - Though not quite ready to unveil all their plans, independence-minded leaders of Stockton Early College Academy say they have relented in their efforts to break away from Stockton Unified and instead intend to open their own rigorous charter high school.

Roger Phillips

STOCKTON - Though not quite ready to unveil all their plans, independence-minded leaders of Stockton Early College Academy say they have relented in their efforts to break away from Stockton Unified and instead intend to open their own rigorous charter high school.

Their plan is to open Velocity International Science and Technology Academy - VISTA - near San Joaquin Delta College in mid-September.

Susana Espinoza, one of the leaders of SECA's unsuccessful effort to break from Stockton Unified, was not prepared to reveal additional details about the planned school or when it might begin accepting applications. School leaders expect VISTA to serve up to 500 high school students in its opening year.

"We are going to start a new school," Espinoza said. "We knew we couldn't serve the students we have under the SECA name."

The changes have been fast and furious at SECA in recent weeks. Stockton Unified has placed Principal Michael Hall on paid administrative leave and transferred Assistant Principal Jim Thomas to Franklin High School. Retired administrator Essa Allred has replaced Hall as SECA's principal, and Stockton Unified also has assigned a counselor, Andres Uyeda, to the school.

SECA opened in 2009, offering its students the chance to graduate from high school with up to two years of college credits. The students have held up their end of the bargain, recording a district-high Academic Performance Index score of 884 in 2010 and 896 in 2011.

But Stockton Unified and members of the SECA governing board have been at odds for months. The SECA board members argued they were entitled to operate autonomously from the district and sought to revise the school's charter. The proposed revisions were rejected by Stockton Unified's board.

The recent administrative changes at SECA angered some associated with the school but pleased others.

"I find it interesting that you have removed the top administrators who in two short years created your top-performing high school because they wouldn't play ball with you, or they wouldn't stoop to your level, or did things a little differently," SECA board member Les Fong said at a Stockton Unified board meeting earlier this month.

But parent Elsa Carpenter said, "It is not Michael Hall that makes SECA what it is. It is the exceptional students. They were exceptional students before Michael Hall. They will continue to be exceptional students even without Michael Hall."

Stockton Unified Superintendent Carl Toliver was unwilling to comment in detail about the reasons for Hall's sidelining.

"We feel it was in the school's best interest to change leadership," Toliver said.

When and if VISTA opens, Espinoza said it will offer much the same program as students have received at SECA, including the chance to graduate from high school with two years of college credits. If it opens, VISTA will vie with SECA for many of the same students.

"If someone wants to go out and start a new charter school, they can do that, and we know that," Toliver said. "But we're going to have a quality program just like we're having right now."